Energy stocks gain; EQT rallies more than 3%

Noble Corp. among the few losers

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Energy stocks rose on Thursday, with EQT Corp. leading the charge after the company reported fourth-quarter results that showed less profit but came in above expectations.

EQT
EQT, -0.74%
shares ended the day up 1.9%, having gained more than 3% earlier and being among the top gainers on the S&P 500. It reported fourth-quarter profits of $48 million, compared with $91 million in the year-ago period.

The company reported adjusted per-share earnings of 48 cents, compared with 59 cents a year ago. Higher revenues “were more than offset” by lower commodity prices and higher costs from an increase in production, EQT said.

EQT in December sold its natural-gas utility business, allowing it to focus on exploration and production. It had spun off a pipeline unit in June.

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On the other end of the spectrum, Noble Corp.
NE, -3.55%
led the decliners, with shares off 6%. Noble reported fourth-quarter results on Wednesday below analyst estimates. The company reported profits of $128 million, or 50 cents a share, compared with per-share consensus around 61 cents.

The last three months of 2012 were “not a great quarter for [Noble] on an absolute basis, [but] the operational results were near the pin,” analysts at Simmons & Co. wrote in a note a clients.

Nabors Industries LTD
NBR, -1.69%
shares rose 0.7%. A regulatory filing by Nabors’s largest shareholder, Pamplona Capital Management, suggested that Pamplona “may be preparing to take an activist role,” the analysts at Simmons noted in their report.

The filing read, in part, that Pamplona has become “increasingly concerned about the underperformance” of the stock relative to peer group and the market. It added it has had “constructive discussions” with management.

Weatherford International Ltd.
WFT, -0.84%
shares turned lower, off 0.7% at the end of the session. Analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt downgraded the company to accumulate from buy, saying Weatherford could still be a “home-run” stock but after gains of more than 38% since late 2012 “we want to be more patient,” the analysts said.

Chevron has acquired a stake in a new oil exploration block in Iraq’s Kurdish region, Dow Jones Newswires said, quoting a senior official in the autonomous region’s oil ministry.

Iraqi and Kurdish authorities have disputed who controls the oil in the area.

Chevron has existing oil licenses in the region, acquired in July from Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd.

The presence of Chevron and other western companies such as Exxon and France’s Total has stirred protests from Iraq’s central government, which contends the Kurdish authorities have no right to grant exploration licenses.

Shares of natural-gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp.
CHK, -3.46%
rose 1.4%. Late Wednesday, Chesapeake and Methanex Corp.
MEOH, -2.15%
announced that Chesapeake will supply all of the natural gas required for Methanex’s methanol plant in Louisiana for a decade. The plant is scheduled to start production by the end of 2014.

Chesapeake has agreed to have the Environmental Protection Agency test one of its drilling sites as part of an investigation into the safety of hydraulic fracturing, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, citing an administration official.

The EPA is working on a study about the process, commonly known as fracking, used to coax oil and gas from shale rock but under scrutiny for its impact on water supplies. The study is due next year.

Shares of SPDR Energy Select
XLE, -2.19%
an exchange-traded fund focused on energy names, gained 0.3%, losing some steam as the day progressed. Crude-oil futures also gained, with the March contract
US:CLH3
settling up 0.8% to $95.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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